High Temperature Reactor System and Method for Producing a Product Therein

ABSTRACT

A plasma system including a plasma source or torch such as an ICP torch acting on a granulated feed material containing a desired product is presented. Methods for employing the system are described including a process for extracting the desired product from a reaction in the plasma system, recovery of otherwise wasted heat energy, and separation of useful materials from mixed mineral substances is discussed.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to and claims the benefit and priority ofU.S. Provisional Application 61/557,951, filed on Nov. 10, 2011,entitled “Magneto-Plasma Separator and Method for Separation,” to thepresent inventors and assignee, which is herein incorporated byreference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to systems and methods for applying aplasma based process to a feed material in order to extract usefulproducts therefrom.

BACKGROUND

Rare earth elements (REEs) and other high value strategic materials areelements whose unique properties are essential to the manufacture ofhigh-tech industrial, medical, and military technology. The REE group isconsidered to include the lanthanide elements: lanthanum, cerium,praseodymium, promethium (does not occur naturally), neodymium,samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium,thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium. The elements yttrium and scandium arealso included as they have similar chemical properties. Other materialsto which aspects of this application is directed include tantalum,titanium, tungsten, niobium, lithium, palladium, vanadium, zirconium,beryllium, thorium and uranium. The above materials are referred toherein as strategic materials for simplicity. Those skilled in the artwill appreciate analogous and similar materials to which the presentdisclosure can be applied as well.

The REEs and the other strategic materials are used in cell phones,computers, and televisions, as well as in hybrid automobiles, high speedtrains, wind turbines, lasers, sonar and fiber optics. They are alsoimportant to national security, as they are used in the manufacture ofguided missiles, communications satellites, radar, early warningsystems, and countless other military and defense items.

Tantalum metal is an example of a high value material that is widelyused in its elemental form but found in nature in the form of a salt oroxide compound. Tantalum is used to make steels with desirableproperties such as high melting point, high strength, and goodductility. These find use in aircraft and missile manufacture. Tantalumis relatively inert and thus useful in the chemical and nuclearindustries. The metal is also highly biocompatible, therefore, tantalumhas widespread use for surgical use. For instance, it can be used insutures and as cranial repair plates. The metal is also used in theelectronics industry for capacitors.

Uranium, in its enriched form, is of particular interest as a fuel fornuclear reactors in both commercial and military applications. Theoverall flow sheet for Uranium includes mining, milling (to produceyellow cake), conversion, and fabrication. Each comprises a number ofsub-steps. Following use of the finished product in a nuclear reactor,spent fuel may be reprocessed and/or stabilized and stored. Means forreprocessing spent fuel and management of high level nuclear waste is ofgreat importance.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,691 is directed to a method for reducing titaniumdioxide powder to elemental titanium. The method combines titaniumdioxide powder melted into droplets, and hydrogen plasma, producingliquid titanium and water at the other end of the chamber. The injectedhydrogen plasma serves to both heat the titanium dioxide and remove theoxygen from the titanium by reduction. The reaction occurs in acompressing magnetic field in order to prevent the contents fromcontacting the sides and melting them.

In one example of current practice, tantalum is produced bymetallothermic reduction of one of its salts. At approximately 800° C.,solid potassium heptafluorotantalate (K₂TaF₇) and liquid sodium areadded to a halide melt (known as a “diluent”) where they react toproduce solid tantalum in the form of powder. The process involves manyunit operations prior to the reduction step in order to convert ore tohigh quality feed. Then, the reduction step relies on a batch processinvolving very dangerous liquid sodium at temperatures approaching itsboiling point (883° C.). The sodium must be delivered to the reactor inlarge vessels (railway tank cars) and stored on site. In this reactor itis difficult both to control particle size and to prevent particleagglomeration, which is critical to the production of high-grade powderfor use in capacitors.

The above systems generally require highly reactive liquid sodium andcostly potassium heptafluorotantalate double salt feedstock, and lackcontinuous throughput, and are based on batch operation methods, andfurther lack the capability to control particle size in the producttantalum powder.

Generally, when the constituents of a mixture or the elements within acompound have an electric charge, one method of separating them relieson accelerating the charged particles and passing them through amagnetic field that is perpendicular to their velocity. This techniqueof separation separates the particles based on their mass-to-chargeratio.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,677 is directed to a device for causing particles tomove along curved paths inside a cylindrical chamber using perpendicularelectric and magnetic fields, for the purpose of separating theparticles. In this invention electrodes can be placed at one or bothends of the confined volume. The positively charged particles willrotate around the central axis and impart this motion to the unchargedparticles through collisions. The concentration of heavier particleswill be greater at greater radial distances, thus allowing separation.

One way of creating charged particles in a mixture or a chemicalcompound is by raising the temperature of the material to above that ofits gas phase. This transforms it to a state of matter called plasmathat is similar to the gas phase except that it has been heated to thedegree that some portion of the molecular constituents have lost some oftheir electrons and are said to be “ionized”. The chemical bonds arebroken thermally—the degree of ionization depends on the temperature. Aplasma is thus comprised of charged particles—generally positive ionsand negative electrons.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,096,220 is directed to a process and device forfiltering low mass particles from high mass particles in a plasma bymeans of injecting the plasma into a cylindrical chamber having amagnetic field aligned with the axis, and a perpendicular electricfield. The magnitude of the magnetic and electric fields are adjustedsuch that the high mass particles escape radially and collide with thecylindrical wall, while the low mass particles are confined to travelwithin the walls.

A filter generally requires only that all particles above a certain massare trapped and all below such “certain mass” pass through—momentumresolution is not a critical design or performance issue. A separatorseparates and collects specific particles that represent the ionicconstituents of a particular metal product. Moreover, it is often thecase that there is not a large difference in the relative mass of such“product particles”. For these applications it may be helpful to obtaina measure or parameter related to momentum resolution.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,248,240 is a continuation in part of U.S. Pat. No.6,096,220 and adds both the possibility of a non-cylindrical chamber andthe possibility of the plasma source being located midway down thechamber. In addition it provides a method for maintaining amulti-species plasma at a low enough density such that collisionsbetween the particles are relatively infrequent, and it introduces oneor more collectors positioned to intercept high mass particles.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,235,202 is another continuation in part of U.S. Pat. No.6,096,220, and adds the possibility of injecting vaporized material intothe chamber, and then ionizing it inside the chamber to create a plasma,possibly by using an RF antenna.

Also, a plasma device has been described to achieve goals such as massspectrometry. Plasma sources, e.g., a plasma torch, generally applyintense radio frequency (RF) fields to an injected plasma gas (e.g.,Argon-Ar) and auxiliary gas feeds to ionize them and induce collisionsbetween the accelerated gas molecules to generate a plasma flame. Anebulizing substance may be injected into the reaction zone of theplasma source as fine droplets. Temperatures up to about 3000 Kelvin (K)are generated in the process, and have been said to cause favorabledissociation of substances, for example to remediate harmful wastes.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,691 purports to provide a method yielding elementaltitanium (Ti) by reducing finely divided liquid titanium dioxide withhydrogen plasma in a counter-current flow to recover the elemental Tirecovered in its liquid state. The system of the '691 reference providestemperatures purporting to range between 2500K and 3540K, which wouldnot meet the requirements for certain applications to be describedbelow. Additionally, while the prior art includes a plasma arc jet itlacks sufficient other technical elements and capabilities, allowing itto be used in some applications, but falling short of being suited forother applications of interest herein.

Beyond that recognized in the prior art, the present systems and methodsimprove mineral extraction efficiency, lower process and system costsand complexity, increase yield, reduce the resultant price of REEs andother high value strategic materials, and reduce the time required tobring a new ore body into production.

SUMMARY

Some embodiments are directed to a plasma reactor system for extractinga product from a feed material, including a reaction chamber havingwalls substantially defining an enclosed volume of said chamberincluding at least one reaction zone; a plurality of ports for ingressand egress of materials into and out of said chamber; a set of inductioncoils that generates temperatures within said reaction zone to cause areaction yielding said product; a plasma torch coupled to said chamberthrough an ingress port thereof that injects said feed material intosaid chamber; a first egress port comprising a product collection portthat receives the product; and a second egress port comprising anexhaust port that discharges waste and other by-products of saidreaction.

Other embodiments are directed to a method for obtaining a StrategicMaterial such as a rare earth from a feed material, comprisingprocessing a rare earth ore to obtain a corresponding rare earth metaloxide therefrom; mechanically pulverizing said rare earth oxide to agranular form; introducing said granular form of the rare earth oxideinto a plasma reactor system; vaporizing said granular form of the rareearth oxide in said plasma reactor system to yield a vapor containingsaid rare earth oxide; introducing a hydrogen plasma into a reactionzone of said plasma reactor system where it can react with said vapor ofrare earth oxide, reducing said rare earth oxide, and yielding a productand at least one waste by-product; and collecting said product byseparating said product from said at least one waste by-product.

Yet other embodiments are directed to a system for processing astrategic material from an oxide thereof, comprising a reaction chambercapable of sustaining temperatures therein exceeding about 5,000 degreesKelvin (K); feed material supply means that receives granular feedmaterial including a strategic material oxide and injects said feedmaterial into said reaction chamber; hydrogen supply means that injectshydrogen gas into said reaction chamber in a general direction opposinga general direction of said feed material; an induction heater thatheats a reaction zone within said reaction chamber to a temperature ofat least about 4,000 degrees Kelvin (K) and results in a hydrogenreduction reaction within said reaction zone between said hydrogen gasand said injected strategic material oxide to yield at least a strategicmaterial product and a waste product; and collection means that receivessaid strategic material product.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1-5 illustrate cross sectional views of exemplary plasma reactorsystems;

FIG. 6 illustrates exemplary processes for extraction of a StrategicMaterial in a plasma reactor system; and

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary arrangement of two plasma processingdevices to recover waste heat from a first one of such processingdevices.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Rare earth elements (REEs) and other high value strategic materials arein increasing demand in a variety of industrial, military and othertechnological fields. Better techniques for extracting useful REEs fromore and mixed feed materials is needed. Also, new technologies forprocessing REEs and other high value strategic materials, e.g., forseparating the metals from their ores and oxides, is required to meetthis growing need. There is also a need for new technologies to furtherprocess the refined metals for improved alloys to reduce the cost andimprove the performance of such products as batteries and highefficiency motors and generators. In some embodiments, the presentsystems provide improved mass resolution via the overall designconfiguration and aspect ratio, and control of the magnetic and electricfield distributions.

Some embodiments hereof provide a plasma based system and method formaking and employing the same, which is suitable for high-efficiency andeconomical production of useful product substances from ore or mixedfeed materials containing the useful products. Specifically, hydrogendirect reduction (HDR) of an ionized metal or rare earth oxide carriedout at elevated temperatures in a plasma reactor chamber is described.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary plasma reactor system 10 for processingfeed materials to derive a useful product therefrom according to anembodiment. A reaction chamber 100 comprising a tank or shell body and aplurality of ports and auxiliary components is designed to contain thereactants in a reaction. A set of induction coils 120, which maysurround all of or a portion of the body of reaction chamber 100, inducea radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic field in the chamber 100 togenerate high temperatures therein. Magnetic field coils 130 generate amagnetic field in chamber 100 to cause movement of charged particlestherein and/or confinement of ionized particles to spatially localizethem in a region or regions within the interior volume of reactionchamber 100.

An inductively coupled plasma (ICP) torch 110 is disposed at or near oneend of the reaction chamber 100 and fed by an auxiliary gas source 118.The ICP torch 110 is driven by coils of radio frequency (RF) coils 114and may include magnetic confinement coils 124 generating a magneticfield within ICP torch 120. A feed material is injected at 125 into theICP torch 110. An auxiliary gas 116 is also injected into the ICP torchin some embodiments.

A reaction zone 102 comprising a plasma discharge from the ICP torch 110occupies some region within reaction chamber 100. In operation, thetemperature in reaction chamber 100, and specifically in or nearreaction zone 102 is raised to achieve a reaction to yield usefulproducts collected at product collection discharge port 105 and watervapor at fluid discharge port 104, which can discharge water vapor, gas,entrained liquid and even solid particulates. In some aspects, anyentrained remaining gases such as unreacted hydrogen or auxiliary gasesescape through fluid discharge port 104 as well. In some embodiments,gravity pulls the collected material downwards and water vapor isdischarged upwards.

FIG. 2 illustrates another embodiment of a plasma reactor system 20including a reaction chamber 200 having walls substantially defining aninterior volume and a reaction zone 210 therein. Energy is provided byinduction coils 270 to ensure a desired reaction in the reaction zone210. A confinement field generated by magnetic field coils 260 canconfine or move or position charged particles inside reaction chamber200.

A plasma torch 220 includes a carrier feed gas source 225 that bringsmixed material such as a metal oxide or a rare earth metal oxide intothe torch 220. A secondary or auxiliary gas 250 facilitates any of afavorable reaction, isolation of the external walls of torch 220 fromreactants or heat within the torch 220, or other functions. The torch220 is equipped with induction coils 222 and magnetic field coils 224for heating and spatially confining the contents of torch 220.

One or more other plasma torches, e.g., hydrogen plasma torches 230 areprovided as shown. The hydrogen plasma torches 230 also include theirown induction coils 232, and optionally, magnetic field coils 234, andin some embodiments secondary or auxiliary gas feeds 236.

In operation, plasma system 20 creates an elevated temperature andcauses a reaction involving a plasma from one or more plasma torches.The reactants can include particles of metal oxide from gas feed 225 andhydrogen so as to result in a direct reduction to yield fluid (e.g.,gas, vapors, steam, entrained liquid droplets) exiting from exhaust port240 and product materials dropping into product collection port(s) 280.In some aspects, the density of the product material is greater thanthat of the reactants and other fluids in reaction zone 210 of reactorchamber 200. As a result, the products drop or precipitate out thebottom of the reactor chamber into collection ports to be collected forpost-processing, packaging and use. An example of a reaction occurringin and around the reaction zone 210 includes:

M_(x)O_(y)+yH₂xM+yH₂O   (Equation 1)

where the reactants on the left hand side of the arrow are M_(x)O_(y)representing a metal (M) oxide and H₂ representing hydrogen and theright hand side of the arrow includes water vapor H₂O and the desiredmetal product (M).

In some aspects, the hydrogen provided through hydrogen plasma torch(es)230 is delivered at or about stoichiometric quantities relative to thegas feed 225. However, in other aspects comprehended herein, thehydrogen is delivered in substantially greater than stoichiometricamounts relative to the other reactants in the system. In a specificexample, the hydrogen H₂ is available at 10% above the stoichiometricratio. In another specific example, H₂ is provided at over 50% above thestoichiometric ratio. In yet another specific example, H₂ is provided atover twice the stoichiometric ratio. In these embodiments, excess H₂ isexhaust through outlet port 240 and is collected and reused, put toanother purpose, or simply put to waste.

As an example, a rare earth metal oxide is fed 225 through plasma torch220 combined with a hydrogen feed through plasma torches 230 may beraised to a temperature exceeding 4,000 degrees Kelvin (K) in someembodiments to cause the reduction reaction. Alternatively a temperatureexceeding 4,500 K is employed in some embodiments, and in otherembodiments a temperature exceeding 5,000 K is employed for thispurpose.

Generally, for most present applications, the design of the system andmethod of operation provides temperatures in the reaction zone of aplasma reactor system ranging between about 5,000 K to 15,000 K, orbetween about 0.4 electron volts (eV) to 13 eV. The use of the describedplasma torches and the induction coils permits operation at suchelevated temperatures, which were hitherto unattainable in the priorart. Specifically, the prior art would not be capable of attainingenergetic ionized states of (e.g.) hydrogen is a reactor and as suchwould fail to produce the desired reactions described herein. Thepresent systems and methods can achieve such temperatures and energylevels to support reactions to yield various useful materials includingmetals and rare earth substances, including: tantalum (Ta), neodymium(Nd), dysprosium (Dy), lanthanum (La), and samarium (Sm). Other metalsand rare earth substances can also be extracted using the presentmethods and systems and those examples would be or become clear to oneskilled in the art upon reading the present disclosure. In an example, adirect hydrogen reduction equation yielding a tantalum product is:

Ta₂O₅+5H₂2Ta+5H₂O.   (Equation 2)

In an aspect, the present plasma reactor systems are design andconfigured to take advantage of fluid dynamic features that moreoptimally promote production of the useful products therefrom. Someembodiments are designed to maximize or increase the contact between thereactants in the reaction zone(s) of a reactor chamber (there may bemore than one such zone). Specifically, some embodiments are designed toprovide reactants (e.g., ionized metal oxides, hydrogen of Equation 1)along fluid flow paths within the reactor chamber so as to increase atime and/or quality of interaction between the reactants. Morespecifically, the fluid flow paths can be arranged in co-flow,cross-flow or counter-flow scenarios so that the bulk of the mainreactants (metal oxide and hydrogen) are moving in the same generaldirection, or across one another's path, or generally in oppositedirections, respectively. These flow paths can be arranged to benefitthe production of useful product materials from the plasma reactorsystems. In an aspect, a differential density of reactants and/orproducts can be exploited so that the force of gravity acting downwardon small particles or droplets in the reaction zone is counteracted byan upward fluid entrainment effect from upwardly flowing fluid. Theresult is that the particles or droplets remain suspended in thereaction zone, delaying their dropping to the bottom of the reactionchamber, for a longer period of time. Also, in some aspects, thereactant particles or droplets are allowed to geometrically reconfiguretheir shapes and sizes over time so as to favorably affect the outcomeof the reaction in the chamber. For example, larger irregular reactants,held in the reaction zone for longer durations, will be allowed toshrink in size and take on more spherical profiles before exiting thereactor.

FIG. 3 illustrates a plasma reactor system 30 having a containmentvessel or reaction chamber 300 as previously described and inductioncoils 320 and magnetic field coils 330 as before. The embodiment shownis a counter-flow scenario in which reactants (e.g., a metal oxide oreproduct) 32 enters the top of the chamber 300 through a plasma torch310. Reactants 32 enter the reaction zone of the system with a givensize and shape distribution that is relatively large and irregular (notsmooth). Near the bottom of reactor chamber 300 are one or more plasmatorches 340 injecting hydrogen 342 (an optionally a sheath or auxiliarygas 344).

As can be seen, the general travel path of the injected feed substance32 is downward and the general direction of flow of hydrogen is upwardfrom its source 342, into a lower portion of the chamber 370, up througha middle portion of the chamber 372 and reaction zone, and on to anupper portion of the chamber 374 where any excess hydrogen, reactiongaseous or vapor fluid emissions are discharged from ports 302. Sincethe reactants interact in the reaction zone, the extra time in flightfor the metal oxide-to-metal material descending through the chamberresults in increased reaction between the reactants, and greaterproduction of (e.g., metal) product 34 dropping into collection port 350for collection in a collection vessel 360.

Various mechanisms including convection, Brownian motion, laminar flow,turbulent flow, thermal and chemical effects, and other factorsdetermine the amount of reactant and product yield of the system 30 inoperation and the amount of time reactant particles or droplets remainin the reaction zone. The present system and methods are designed, insome embodiments, to allow the descending materials, especially near orin the reaction zone and around the central zones 372 of chamber 300, tosubstantially achieve a “terminal velocity” with respect to the risinggases coming up from plasma torches 340 from areas 370 below in thechamber 300. In such a situation, depending on the shape and size of thedescending product material, and depending on the differential densitybetween the product and the other reactants, the system's operation canbe optimized for best production of product in and around the reactionzone of the chamber 300.

In some aspects, the present system is designed and configured to meterthe rate of flow and the velocity of the fluids in the reactor system30, including so that the rate of falling or dropping of the productmetal under the force of gravity is somewhat or completely offset by theupward draft of the gases in the counter-flow fluid dynamic scenario.Also, co-flowing and cross-flow scenarios can be designed to takeadvantage of the drag (friction) of the fluids within the reactorchamber so as to buoy or suspend or keep the products and reactantmaterials in residence in the reaction zones for an effective period oftime, increasing production.

FIG. 4 illustrates a simplified plasma reactor system 40 including areaction chamber 400 wherein a plurality of reactants are introduced andreact under elevated thermal conditions. In or about a reaction zone 410of said chamber a counter-flow of downwardly flowing feed reactants 420mixes with and reacts with upward flowing gas reactant 430 (e.g.,hydrogen). The reactants are preferably provided from plasma torchassemblies coupled to various ingress ports of the system 40. An egressor exhaust discharge port allows waste and excess by-products 450 of thereaction to exit from the chamber. In some embodiments, a sheath gas orauxiliary gas 440 is provided into the chamber 400, and which also flowsup and out of the chamber at the designed rate. Any produced productmaterial, such as metal, will drop downwards by force of gravity to aportion of the reactor near its bottom, which is eventually collectedand discharged through a discharge port or collection assembly. In someembodiments, a plurality of processes are arranged so that waste heat ofthe energetic exhaust fluids is recovered and used in a subsequentprocess or step as will be described below.

FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment of a plasma reactor system 50. Thesystem includes a reaction chamber 500 as before. Also, the system feedsa feed material 505 through a plasma torch such as an ICP into areaction zone 510 of reactor chamber 500. Hydrogen 530 is fed in by oneor more hydrogen plasma torches to react with the feed material 505 inthe reaction zone 510. Here, the feed material 505 and hydrogen gases530 are introduced into the reactor 500 having generally a same flowdirection (e.g., upwardly). But the reaction yielding a product that isheavier than the other substances in the reactor will drop towards thereactor's bottom by the force of gravity. Nonetheless, during reaction,a residence time is designed such that droplets, particles or smallpieces of the product can become well reacted and even spherodized inthe chamber 500 before they drop out and are collected. Again, asecondary or sheath gas 540 or further reacting fluids (e.g., hydrogen)can be introduced through ports in the walls of the chamber 500 asnecessary or desired.

In all, it can be seen from the previous discussion how a system isdesigned to maximize the reaction in a plasma reactor system. In someaspects this is accomplished in carefully designing the fluid dynamicpathways and flow rates in view of the different densities of thereactants and products to encourage good residence time in the reactionzone or zones of the reactor. A balanced system in operation can seem tolevitate or buoy the reactants (e.g., a metal oxide) while it reacts soas to produce a heavier (e.g., metal) product that falls due to itsgreater weight (gravitational force acting on the mass of the metalproduct). Furthermore, as the reactants and product materials undergochanges in the hot reactor systems, the shapes and sizes of droplets andparticles thereof may be customized to a desired size and form. Ideally,the product will drop down into the lower collection chutes and outletports just at the right level of reaction and particle shape and size tobe useful.

FIG. 6 illustrates a simplified exemplary process or method forproducing a product (e.g., a rare earth metal) from a mixed feedmaterial (e.g., a rare earth metal oxide) in a plasma reactor systemlike those shown previously.

A rare earth ore is provided at step 600. The ore is processed, forexample using a beneficiation step, crushed, and optionally mixed withother substances to remove gangue (dirt) and collect a useful mineral(e.g., a rare earth metal oxide) in solid form at 602. The metal oxideis pulverized at 604 to a form fine enough to feed into an ICP plasmatorch at 606.

As discussed above, the fine rare earth metal oxide is fed into thetorch and vaporized at 608 to produce an ionized fluid containing theoxide. A hydrogen gas (optionally a hydrogen plasma) is introduced at610 to react with the metal oxide in a reactor.

The reaction (e.g., a direct hydrogen reduction) at 612 proceeds asdescribed earlier to yield a product (e.g., a rare earth metal) that iscollected at 614. Also, waste and other excess exhausted materials(e.g., hydrogen gas, water vapor) are ejected at 618, or optionallydirected for recycling or for reclamation of their excess thermal energyin a subsequent process. The collected product is post processed at step616. The post-processing may include further heating to drive off excesshydrogen and contaminants and may include, cleaning, agitating in avacuum, spherodizing, inert gas storage, or other steps.

FIG. 7 illustrates a way for recovering heat from multiple plasmareactor systems like those discussed above. In an embodiment, a firstplasma reactor system 700 receiving a feed 701 into a plasma torch(e.g., ICP torch) 702. A second stream of fluid 720 is input as shownand exchanges thermal energy (is heated) from the hot discharge 730 ofthe first plasma reactor system 700. In a simplified example theexchange of heat from fluids 730 to 720 is carried out in a counter-flowheat exchanger, but others are possible (co-flow and cross-flow,radiators, etc.)

The heated fluid 720 is introduced as a feed 740 into a second plasmareactor system 710 in a plasma torch 712, coupled with a gas (e.g.,hydrogen) 714, and that exhausts at 716. It should be appreciated thatmultiple systems like that described can be arranged in series and/orparallel to form a larger system with greater capacity.

Also, it should be appreciated that a single plasma system canre-circulate its hot waste vapour, gas and exhaust back into a streamthat exchanges heat with input feed materials so as to preheat the feedmaterials and recover otherwise wasted heat energy.

The present invention should not be considered limited to the particularembodiments described above. Various modifications, equivalentprocesses, as well as numerous structures to which the present inventionmay be applicable, will be readily apparent to those skilled in the artto which the present invention is directed upon review of the presentdisclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A plasma reactor system for extracting a productfrom a feed material, comprising: a reaction chamber having wallssubstantially defining an enclosed volume of said chamber including atleast one reaction zone; a plurality of ports for ingress and egress ofmaterials into and out of said chamber; a set of induction coils thatgenerates temperatures within said reaction zone to cause a reactionyielding said product; a plasma torch coupled to said chamber through aningress port thereof that injects said feed material into said chamber;a first egress port comprising a product collection port that receivesthe product; and a second egress port comprising an exhaust port thatdischarges waste and other by-products of said reaction.
 2. The systemof claim 1, further comprising a set of magnetic field coils thatspatially confine charged particles to one or more portions of saidenclosed volume.
 3. The system of claim 1, said plasma torch comprisingan inductively coupled plasma (ICP) torch fed by a carrier gascontaining said feed material.
 4. The system of claim 3, said plasmatorch further comprising an auxiliary gas feed injecting an auxiliarygas into said torch.
 5. The system of claim 3, further comprising amagnetic field coil disposed about said plasma torch that provides amagnetic field within a body of said torch.
 6. The system of claim 1,further comprising a hydrogen plasma torch, coupled to said chamber,that injects a hydrogen supply into said chamber so as to cause areduction reaction within said reaction zone.
 7. The system of claim 1,said second egress port designed and configured to eject water vaporfrom said chamber to a place external to said chamber.
 8. The system ofclaim 1, said product collection port designed and configured to collectand discharge said product substance from said chamber.
 9. The system ofclaim 1, said first egress port disposed lower in said chamber than saidsecond egress port so that the system can use gravitational force todischarge said products downwardly towards said first egress port and todischarge said waste by-products upwardly towards said second egressport.
 10. The system of claim 1, said induction coils designed andconfigured to cause a temperature within said reaction zone exceedingabout 4,000 degrees Kelvin (K).
 11. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising at least one hydrogen plasma torch providing a hydrogen gassupply into said chamber, and wherein said carrier gas feed and saidhydrogen gas supply are directed into the chamber in generally opposingdirections, i.e., in a counter-flowing configuration.
 12. The system ofclaim 11, wherein said plasma torch provides the feed gas material in afirst general direction at a first design flow rate, and said hydrogenplasma torch provides the hydrogen gas in a second general direction ata second designed flow rate metered to offset a rate of dropping of saidproduct through the enclosed volume of the chamber through hydrodynamiceffects of said counter-flow.
 13. The system of claim 12, said firstgeneral direction of the feed gas material being generally downward andsaid second general direction being generally upward so that the rate ofdropping of said product downward due to gravitational force is retardedby an upward draft of said hydrogen gas and other fluids moving upwardlythrough said chamber.
 14. The system of claim 13, configured anddesigned so that said first and second directions and flow ratessubstantially achieve a terminal velocity of falling droplets of a givensize of said product within the upwardly streaming fluids in saidchamber, thereby increasing a residence time of said droplets within thechamber.
 15. The system of claim 14, configured and designed so as topermit dropping of said product towards said collection port based on adifference in density of said product and said feed material where saidproduct has a greater density than said feed material.
 16. The system ofclaim 12, said second design flow rate providing hydrogen in excess of astoichiometric requirement for reaction with said feed material.
 17. Thesystem of claim 1, further comprising a quartz shield disposed betweensaid plasma torch and other components of the system to protect thelatter from effects of excessive temperatures caused by said torch. 18.The system of claim 1, said auxiliary gas comprising a sheath gas thatcoats a surface of said torch and chamber.
 19. The system of claim 1,said feed material comprising a metal oxide and said product comprisinga metal.
 20. The system of claim 19, said metal oxide comprising a rareearth metal oxide and said product comprising a rare earth metal. 21.The system of claim 20, said rare earth metal oxide comprising any of: atantalum oxide, a neodymium oxide, a lanthanum oxide and a samariumoxide, and said product comprising any of: tantalum, neodymium,lanthanum and samarium.
 22. The system of claim 1, at least a portion ofsaid chamber comprising a decreasing area cross sectional profile so asto create a correspondingly increasing fluid flow velocity within saidchamber.
 23. The system of claim 1, further comprising a heat exchangerthat receives a hot discharge from said second egress port which is usedto preheat a substance entering a second process so that at least someheat energy from the discharge of said second egress port is recoveredin said second process.
 24. The system of claim 1, said feed gasmaterial comprising finely divided metal oxide substance injected intosaid plasma torch.
 25. A method for obtaining a strategic material suchas a rare earth from a feed material, comprising: processing a rareearth ore to obtain a corresponding strategic material oxide therefrom;mechanically pulverizing said strategic material oxide to a granularform; introducing said granular form of the strategic material oxideinto a plasma reactor system; vaporizing said granular form of thestrategic material oxide in said plasma reactor system to yield a vaporcontaining said strategic material oxide; introducing a hydrogen plasmainto a reaction zone of said plasma reactor system where it can reactwith said vapor of strategic material oxide, reducing said strategicmaterial oxide, and yielding a product and at least one wasteby-product; and collecting said product by separating said product fromsaid at least one waste by-product.
 26. The method of claim 25, furthercomprising heating said reaction zone to at least 4,000 degrees Kelvin(K) using a set of induction coils.
 27. The method of claim 25, furthercomprising collecting said waste by-product and extracting heat energytherefrom in a heat exchange step of another process.
 28. The method ofclaim 25, further comprising post-processing said collected product. 29.The method of claim 28, comprising heating said collected product todrive off residual hydrogen or other contaminants.
 30. The method ofclaim 25, further comprising fluidizing said product in said chamber.31. The method of claim 25, introducing said hydrogen plasma comprisingproviding a gaseous form of hydrogen at a flow rate and in a directiongenerally opposing a direction of movement of said oxide in saidreaction zone.
 32. The method of claim 31, said flow rate and directionof said hydrogen being provided so as to substantially overcome adownward force of gravity on said oxide in said reaction zone by anupward force due to the hydrogen's upward flow, and so as not toovercome a downward force of gravity on said product, which is allowedto descend to a designated collection point.
 33. The method of claim 25,further comprising heating said reaction zone by way of an inductioncoil.
 34. The method of claim 33, said heating raising a temperaturewithin said reaction zone to a range between 4,000 and 15,000 degreesKelvin (K).
 35. The method of claim 25, further comprising a step ofparticle size classification to classify various contents of said systemaccording to their size, and acting on said particles based on saidsize.
 36. The method of claim 35, further comprising providing saidhydrogen at a variable flow velocity to counteract motion of saidparticles of a given size.
 37. A system for processing a strategicmaterial from an oxide thereof, comprising: a reaction chamber capableof sustaining temperatures therein exceeding about 5,000 degrees Kelvin(K); feed material supply means that receives granular feed materialincluding a strategic material oxide and injects said feed material intosaid reaction chamber; hydrogen supply means that injects hydrogen gasinto said reaction chamber in a general direction opposing a generaldirection of said feed material; an induction heater that heats areaction zone within said reaction chamber to a temperature of at leastabout 4,000 degrees Kelvin (K) and results in a hydrogen reductionreaction within said reaction zone between said hydrogen gas and saidinjected strategic material oxide to yield at least a strategic materialproduct and a waste product; and collection means that receives saidstrategic material product.
 38. The system of claim 37, furthercomprising a liquid product receptacle for receiving said strategicmaterial product in a liquid form.
 39. The system of claim 37, furthercomprising a solid product receptacle for receiving said strategicmaterial product in a solid form.
 40. The system of claim 37, furthercomprising a plasma torch for ionizing said strategic material oxide.41. The system of claim 37, further comprising a plasma torch forionizing said hydrogen.